Garbage disposal system

ABSTRACT

An improved garbage disposal system for multi-story high rise apartment buildings and the like comprising a vertically disposed branch conduit extending through substantially the height of the building and dependently connected to a main conveying conduit for delivery of garbage thereto for transport to a remote location and a plurality of vertical garbage disposal chutes of limited extend each selectively serving a plurality of floors and including a selectively operable valve assembly at the dependent end thereof for effecting temporary accumulation of garbage therein and the selectively induced release and introduction thereof into the branch conduit.

United States Patent [1 1 Ekstriim [ll] 3,813,128 [451 Ma zs, 1974 GARBAGE DISPOSAL SYSTEM [75] inventor: Per-()lof Ekstriim,Johanneshov,

Sweden [73] Assignee: AB Centralsug, Solna, Sweden [22] Filed: Mar. 20, 1972 [2]] Appl. No.: 236,479

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Mar. 25, 1971 Sweden 3938/71 [52] US. Cl. 302/39, 193/33 [51] Int. Cl. B65g 53/40 [58] Field of Search l93/29, 30, 33, 34; 302/27, 39

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,490,813 l/l970 Hallstriim 302/27 X 3,687,503 8/1972 Ekstriim l93/34 X FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 332,968 8/1930 Great Britain 302/27 227,17l 9/1969 Sweden 302/39 Primary Examiner-Even C. Blunk Assistant ExaminerW. Scott Carson Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Robert E. lsner, Esq.

[57] ABSTRACT An improved garbage disposal system for multi-story high rise apartment buildings and the like comprising a vertically disposed branch conduit extending through substantially the height of the building and dependently connected to a main conveying conduit for delivery of garbage thereto for transport to a remote location and a plurality of vertical garbage disposal chutes of limited extend each selectively serving a plurality of floors and including a selectively operable valve assembly at the dependent end thereof for effecting temporary accumulation of garbage therein and the selectively induced release and introduction thereof into the branch conduit.

4 Claims, 1 Drawing Figure 1 GARBAGE DISPOSAL SYSTEM The present invention relates to an improved system for pneumatic conveyance and disposal of household garbage and similar materials from tall, multi-story apartment houses of the so-called high rise type. In conventional pneumatic garbage disposal systems, every garbage receiving port is connected to a common duct for conveyance of garbage by a negative pressure to a collection station or destructing plant. in such systems each building is connected to a main suction conduit via a main building conduit to which the lower end of the vertically disposed common garbage receiving chute is connected via a periodically operating valve. As garbage-removing suction is normally only economically applied at certain intervals of time, it has so far been considered unavoidable in tallmulti-story buildings in which the total amount of accumulated garbage to be conveyed is considerable, to subdivide the vertically disposed common garbage receiving chute into several discrete portions or units in order to avoid accumulation of too high a head of garbage in each chute between the removal intervals. As the height of the buildings increase, this problem is accentuated and the common expedient of vertical subdivision of the common chute by selectively located valves or by the utilization of aplurality of discrete chutes each only serving a limited number of floors are neither economically or practically applicable.

Other factors to be considered in connection with high skyscraper type apartment buildings is the rate of fall of the garbage and the risk of obstruction of the conduits with consequent garbage pile up past some disposal ports. Also, if a great number of disposal ports are associated with a given'chute the risk that falling garbage will hit garbage being inserted into a lower disposal port is materially increased.

The present invention is directed to the elimination of the above disadvantages and, accordingly, is directed to an improved arrangement or system for the conveyance of garbage from a tall multi-story or high rise type-apartment building through a single branch conduit running through and from said building to a remotely located underground main conveying conduit and which, in its broader aspects, includes an elongate, common, vertically disposed branch conduit that extends upwardly through at least a major portion of the height of the building and a plurality of vertically disposed garbage disposal chutes of limited vertical extent each terminally connected to said branch conduit and selectively associated with one height section of the building comprising a plurality but limited number of floors thereof and each such chute including a valve assembly that serves to collect'the garbage introduced therein and to intermittently release the same into said It should be understood that while this invention may be incorporated in any relatively tall multi-story building, it is particularly suited for use in buildings comprising more than 20 floors.

In the embodiment illustrated in the drawing, .a branch conduit 10 dependently connected to a remotely located underground main suction conduit includes a vertically disposed portion that extends upwardly through the entire height of the building. Depending on the lateral extension and height of the building more than one such vertically disposed branch conduit may be provided to accommodate the garbage handling requirement, however each such branch conduit will also be fundamentally arranged as in the embodiment shown in the drawing and described in detail hereafter. At the upper terminal end thereof, the branch conduit 10 is provided with air admission means, generally designated 11, that may be valve operated. In parallel to the vertically disposed common branch conduit '10 there extends a plurality of vertically disposed garbage disposal chutes 12 each terminally interconnected with the conduit 10 and each being of limited vertical extent to selectively serve a limited number of building floors through individual garbage disposal openings 13 each located on a given floor of the building. Suitably, each chute 12, for example, includes 5 to 10 discrete garbage disposal openings depending on the calculated amount of garbage, anticipated per floor or the like. Disposed at the dependent tenninal end of each of the chutes l2 and ahead of their inter-connection to the branch conduit 10, the disposal chutes are provided with a selectively actuatable and normally closed valve assembly 14 on which the garbage introduced into the respective chutes 12 is temporarily accumulated.

The system operates in the following way:

The garbage accumulated in disposal chutes 12 subsequent to introduction through the ports 13 is discharged individually into the branch conduit 10 at predeterminable intervals as determined either by a time control system or by some kind of feeler device when a certain amount of garbage has been collected at the valve causing the valve assembly 14 to be actuated and to permit the collected garbage in the particular chute to be discharged into and down through the branch conduit 10 and into the main conveying conduit for delivery to the collecting station. The lower portion of each disposal chute 12 will thus act as a preliminary accumulating or collecting location for the garbage introduced through the disposal ports 13. Due to the fact that the chutes because of their limited vertical extent and ability to serve only a limited number of floors, only will receive relatively small amounts of garbage and thus will avoid excessive amounts of garbage compacting against the valve assembly in the bottom of the chute whereby the risk of garbage clogging is eliminated. When the collected garbage is subsequently exposed to subatmospheric pressure of conveying magnitude it will easily be sucked away to the collecting place.

If garbage clogging unexpectedly occurs in a disposal chute in the disclosed system, it only results in a minor part of the whole system being put out of operation. Moreover repair of this portion of the system can be effected without system shut-down and such will not cause any great inconvenience to the majority of the tenants.

Due to the fact that the individual disposal chutes 12 may be emptied one at a time, the branch conduit 10 may be of comparatively small cross-sectional extent, which permits a reduction in the construction cost. It

is also possible through the utilization of the invention to dispose the branch conduits in a way most suitable from the point of view of both building construction and operation and independently of the position of the disposal openings which is highly advantageous from many points of view.

Thus, the construction and permitted mode of operation of the garbage disposal system according to the present invention offers many advantages, both economic and operational, in a highly reliable system that is easily kept in an operative state. Essentially, in addition to the elongate continuous or common branch conduit 10, only one chute 12 is used at every building level, such chute 12 only serving a comparatively short height section or limited number of floors in order to realize the above-mentioned advantages. However, in order to provide space for accumulation of garbage, each disposal chute 12 may desirably slightly overlap each other so that the valve at the lower end of one chute 12 will be positioned somewhat below the uppermost disposal opening 13 of the chute 12 serving the adjacently lower group of floors.

By continuously operating the disclosed system at a slight subatmospheric pressure, a further advantage is obtained in that the smell of the garbage cannot spread into the building.

The upper end of each chute 12 may be vented either directly out to the facade of the building or to a common valve conduit leading from all of the chutes up to the roof.

What I claim is:

1. In a pneumatic garbage conveying system for tall multi-story buildings,

a vertically disposed common branch conduit extending upwardly through at least a major portion of the height of said building and dependently connected to a main conveying conduit for delivery of garbage thereto for transport to a remote location,

a plurality of discrete vertically disposed garbage disposal chutes of limited vertical extent, each chute extending over at least several floors in height and adapted to selectively serve a plurality of particular floors of said building and each dependently interconnected with said branch conduit, said interconnections being vertically spaced from each other and located along a substantial portion of the length thereof,

each of said chutes including at least one garbage disposal port on each of the particular floors being serviced by said chute for receiving garbage therefrom,

and a selectively operable valve assembly included at the dependent end of each of said chutes for effecting the temporary accumulation of garbage introduced into each of said chutes and the selectively induced release and introduction thereof into said branch conduit.

2. A system as set forth in claim 1 in which the uppermost garbage disposal port in at least one of said chutes is disposed at a floor level not lower than the level at which the disposal chute serving the floors immediately thereabove is connected to said branch conduit.

3. A system as set forth in claim 1 wherein said branch conduit includes an air admission valve at the upper terminus thereof.

4. A system as set forth in claim 1 including means for maintaining at least a subatmospheric pressure of minimal predetermined magnitude within said branch conduit and said chutes intermediate periods of pneumatically induced garbage displacement therewithin. 

1. In a pneumatic garbage conveying system for tall multi-story buildings, a vertically disposed common branch conduit extending upwardly through at least a major portion of the height of said building and dependently connected to a main conveying conduit for delivery of garbage thereto for transport to a remote location, a plurality of discrete vertically disposed garbage disposal chutes of limited vertical extent, each chute extending over at least several floors in height and adapted to selectively serve a plurality of particular floors of said building and each dependently interconnected with said branch conduit, said interconnections being vertically spaced from each other and located along a substantial portion of the length thereof, each of said chutes including at least one garbage disposal port on each of the particular floors being serviced by said chute for receiving garbage therefrom, and a selectively operable valve assembly included at the dependent end of each of said chutes for effecting the temporary accumulation of garbage introduced into each of said chutes and the selectively induced release and introduction thereof into said branch conduit.
 2. A system as set forth in claim 1 in which the uppermost garbage disposal port in at least one of said chutes is disposed at a floor level not lower than the level at which the disposal chute serving the floors immediately thereabove is connected to said branch conduit.
 3. A system as set forth in claim 1 wherein said branch conduit includes an air admission valve at the upper terminus thereof.
 4. A system as set forth in claim 1 including means for maintaining at least a subatmospheric pressure of minimal predetermined magnitude within said branch conduit and said chutes intermediate periods of pneumatically induced garbage displacement therewithin. 